Pathological Personality Traits and the Experience of Daily Situations

Abstract

We examined the associations between personality pathology and daily situational experiences. College student participants ( N = 180) were assessed on pathological personality traits along with six assessments of everyday situation experiences. Independent raters judged situation descriptions provided by the participants to estimate the normative and consensually shared aspect of situations. Participants’ subjective situational construals were obtained by partialing the consensual aspect out of their in situ situation ratings. Substantive and meaningful relations between personality pathology and situations were found, and they were predominantly underpinned by subjective construal of situational characteristics. By using comprehensive taxonomies of personality pathology and situations, we advanced current understanding on the day-to-day situational dynamics and experiences of individuals with pathological personality tendencies.